I just got my ED1 letter back from Bates and I got deferred to the RD pool…now what? What are my odds of getting in now and should I be confident going into the RD pool? What should I do to make sure I get the best chance of getting in?
I was recruited for swimming and put on the impact list, and the coach said he’ll put me on the priority list for the next round.
This is my app at the moment:
GPA (weighted): 3.83
No SAT
Race: Asian, Filipino
AP US History - 5
AP Language - 4
AP World History
AP Literature
(All Honors Classes Year 9, 10, 11)
Honor Roll (9, 10, 11, 12)
NHS (12)
AP US Merit Award (11)
Spanish II Honors Merit Award (11)
Theology Merit Award (10)
To assess this, are you saying that you had coach support and were deferred? That is unusual. But that now you have more coach support? What changed?
For a regular applicant, you have a chance of being accepted in the regular round if you were deferred. A greater chance, though, of being WL or denied.
Write a letter of CI and update your application with any new awards. But most important, talk to the coach and make sure you fully understand what he’s saying.
Lastly, make sure your RD apps at other schools are good and that you have contacted coaches there. You may end up with something you like better (even if Bates comes through ).
From what I’m hearing Bates got a record number of ED applications this year so they may have had to defer a lot of good students they’ll admit in the RD round just so they wouldn’t accept too much of the class early.
Hey, I applied ED1 to Bates and also got deferred. I also heard that there was something around a 12% increase in early applicants this year. It’s very disappointing but now you can view it as an opportunity to test your chances at other schools That’s the way I’m looking at it. And there’s always a chance of acceptance in RD!
Also, does anyone know what to include in an update letter and when to send it?
True, but if they Deferred instead of Denied many more this year it will just drive down the RD Acceptance Rate further. I do think that being Test Optional will continue to broaden the applicant pool for Bates which will continue to drive down acceptance rate as I am sure the Test Optional acceptance is very low - no proof, just a hunch.
Bates has been test optional since the 80’s so it’s nothing new for the school and shouldn’t be driving acceptance rates down. If anything, the fact that a lot of other schools are now going test optional or test flexible means that Bowdoin and Bates no longer own that niche.
Yes, but I don’t think nearly as many knew about Test Optional schools back in the 1980’s.
Test Flexible seems to me to be much less holistic as it typically require two to three individual exams of your choice, selected from SAT sections (including Essay test from redesigned SAT), SAT subject tests, ACT writing, AP scores or IB final exams. Usually one must be a verbal or writing/essay test, one must be a quantitative test, and the third if applicable is your choice. I can’t see someone focused on Test Optional schools also selecting a Test Flexible school.
It’s also unusual that the Bates CDS SAT/ACT score profile has a lower top-25% and much wider band than many similar ranked LAC’s, so I suspect it’s a school that a wider pool of applicants think is achievable.
But is that someone who is swimming for Bates as that would make a difference - they will support athletic recruits through RD if they can’t fill all the slots in ED.
That’s make a difference as Bates will support athletic recruits through RD - our DD was. They kept in close contact with her all the way through the RD decision date to make sure she still had Bates as a top choice - they even asked in the final days before decisions came out.
^^I think it’s one thing to support an athlete in the RD round who would not apply ED and a different one to not support an athlete in the ED round but do it in the RD round after they have been deferred. Not saying it can’t happen, but this coach had a chance to commit fully to this athlete and did not.
My guess is that the OP will be reviewed like a normal applicant in the RD round unless something has changed as the coach’s “tip” was not enough. And the OP could turn out to be exactly what Bates needs in that round.
Bates has always deferred, rather than denied, the vast majority of ED applicants who are not accepted. They are not unusual in this regard, btw.
Talk to the coach about anything you or he might be able to do to help.
Also consider some similar but slightly less competitive colleges, so that if Bates does not work out, you will be happy elsewhere. You might like Connecticut College or Skidmore, both of which I feel have a similar appeal to Bates. Maybe also Brandeis- a little bit larger but a similarly inclusive social environment? Wheaton in MA or Clark might be good safeties.
Hey A3swim…did you need a lot of FA? BTW my brother was deferred ED2 last year and then accepted RD. You can now see which recruits were accepted at Bates so you can also understand how your times compare and how much of an impact you can really make.
Hi, thanks for the reply! I actually applied to Conn, as well as a lot of other NESCAC schools. Hopefully this time around I’ll get some better results.
Hi, thank you for replying. The Coach said that he’ll do everything he can in terms of support in RD. I also have a Bates alum (who also swam) call the admins office, and I’ll be sending a January Letter.
That’s the way I’m looking at it. And there’s always a chance of acceptance in RD!